ESPERANTO -- The International Language
Every year, our world seems smaller. Ships carry a thousand
items between countries. Jets carry passengers across oceans and
around the world. Satellites bring us live television coverage
from Europe and Asia. Every year, Americans in every walk of
life communicate more and more with people of other countries.
Only one barrier remains...
As a result of this tremendous increase in contacts with the
outside world, Americans are realizing that there is still a
major barrier to international communication -- the language
barrier!
Americans have long heard the cliche that "Wherever you go,
people speak English." In fact, at most ten percent of the world
speaks English! Often, in other countries, only people in the
best hotels of the largest cities can use English, and even they
are often not very fluent. Anyone who has visited a foreign
country and struggled with the language barriers understands
this. Americans are at last discovering what the rest of the
world has long known: there is a real need for an international
language.
Fortunately, there is such a language...
Its name is Esperanto. It was created by Dr. Ludwig L.
Zamenhof, a Polish physician, who published it in 1887. Since
then, Esperanto has been learned by millions. Of the many
projects and proposals for an international language over the
centuries, Esperanto is the only one that has stood the test of
time and is being spoken today. It is in daily use by many
thousands of people all over the world, and the number is growing
constantly.
Many international meetings are held in Esperanto. Books and
magazines are published by the thousands to meet the demand of an
international public. Some of the largest international firms
put on advertising campaigns in Esperanto. Hotels, resterants
and tourist resorts compete for the patronage of the
Esperanto-speaking traveler.
Esperanto"s impressive success as the language of international
communication is due to three basic advantages. It is easy to
learn. It is politically neutral. And it has many practical
uses.
Esperanto is easy...
Esperanto is much easier to learn than any other language. In
fact, it can be learned in a quarter of the time needed to learn
a national language! The spelling is easy: eash leter has
exactly one sound. The pronunciation is easy: there are no
strange combinations of letters to create new sounds, and the
accent is always on the next to last syllable. The grammer is
easy: there are only sixteen rules, with no exceptions. (That
means, for example, that there are no irregular verbs.) The
vocabulary is easy too: many international words are used, such
as telefono (telephone), biologio (biology), and mathematiko
(mathematics). Esperanto gives a very natural impression in
spoken or written use; and because of its high ratio of vowels to
consonants, it is often said to resemble Spanish or Italian.
Esperanto also uses prefixes, suffixes, and interchangable
endings to reduce the number of words to be learned. For
example, in English we make the words "friendly, unfriendly, and
friendship" from the root word "friend". Esperanto carries this
idea much further, making the vocabulary easier to learn.
In short, Esperanto has been rationally constructed for ease of
learning. This has made it especially popular with busy men and
women who can not spend years learning a foreign language, which
would be useful in only a small part of the world.
Esperanto is neutral...
The second major reason for Esperanto's success is that it is
neutral. It belongs to no one country. Many people in America
and England say that English is already spoken so widely and is
such an "important" language in the world that it should be
officially adopted by all nations as the international language.
This view is very unpopular in many countries.
This attitude is not merely because English is one of the most
difficult languages to learn. The new nations of Africa and Asia
are very reluctant to accept English (or any major language) for
international communication because of the political overtones.
For example, the countries of the Soviet bloc would not want to
use English as an official international language, just as we
would be reluctant to accept Russian in that role (as some Soviet
publicists have actually suggested).
The Western nations have also shown their sensitivity to
questions of linguistic equality. Quebec has rejected English as
its official language; the Common Market nations insist on using
all their languages in Brussels; the UN speends tens of millions
of dollars every year translating into five official languages
and into fifteen for UNESCO!
Esperanto is not the property of any one nation, group of
nations, or social class. It belongs to everyone. It has no
political or historical implications to hinder its acceptance.
Every person who uses Esperanto is on an equal linguistic footing
with all other Esperantists. Esperanto's popularity in smaller
nations and in Asian countries, such as Japan, is largely due to
this neutrality. This promotes a spirit of friendship and
brotherhood among Esperantists which is quite impressive to
everyone who sees it in use.
Esperanto is practical...
Esperanto offers exceptional practical advantages.
Coordinating these advantages is the worldwide organization, the
Universal Esperanto Association. The UEA, from its headquarters
in Rotterdam, maintains a network of over 3,500 representatives
in 66 countries, sponsors many international activities, and
issues a Yearbook containing the addresses of its representatives
and information on current international activities. There are
more than a dozen international professional associations
including, for example, teachers, scientists, journalists,
doctors, and lawyers. These groups sponcer meetings, publish
journals, and otherwise promote the technical, use of Esperanto.
Other international organizations serve the interests of
Esperantists who share a common affiliation, such as in computers
and telecommunications?
A scientifically constructed language
Some people ask, "But isn't Esperanto an artificial language?"
Of course it is. So is every language in the world. The word
"artificial" means "made by human beings," and every language has
been created by human beings. The difference between Esperanto
and other languages is that Esperanto was scientifically designed
to do a special job -- the job of international communications --
and it does that job surperbly. Designed for maximun
understandability, Esperanto is "grammar-coded" -- you can tell
what part each word plays in a sentence from the word endings.
Artificial Intelligence and Semantic Understanding computer
programs could be implemented with greater success if they were
developed around Esperanto.
Esperanto and the UN
In October 1966, the UEA presented the Secretary General of the
United Nations with a proposal recommending that the UN solve the
language problem by supporting use of the International Language,
Esperanto. The petition was signed by almost a million
individuals and by 3,843 organizations representing 71 million
more people from all over the world. Today, an Esperanto office
operates across the street from the UN, staffed by a professional
linguist and several volunteers.
Esperanto and You
The national Esperanto group in the United States of America is
the Esperanto League for North America (ELNA). In Canada, the
Canadian Esperanto Association (CEA) performs the same task of
providing information, assisting local groups, organizing classes
and annual conventions, and cooperating with the UEA. For more
information about books, records, membership, and classes,
contact:
Esperanto League for North America, Inc
P. O. Box 1129
El Cerrito, CA 94530
In Canada, contact:
Canadian Esperanto Association
P.O.Box 2067
Sidney BC V8L 3S3 Canada
Esperanto does not aim at replacing the existing national
languages; but it overcomes the present linguistic chaos by
serving as a neutral instrument of international communication
for all.
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STRUCTURE: The core grammer of Esperanto consist of only 16
rules, with no exceptions. In spite of this simplicity,
Esperanto can express the finest shades of meaning.
VOCABULARY: The word roots in Esperanto have been taken from many
national languages according to the principle of maximum
internationality. Thus, many of them are already known to people
of all nations. Many words -- an average of ten to fifteen, but
sometimes as many as fifty -- may be formed from one root. This
building block approach helps make Esperanto easy to learn.
TECHNICAL VOCABULARIES: More than 125 technical dictionaries and
vocabularies in some fifty branches of science, philosophy,
technology, and handicrafts have been published in Esperanto.
LITERATURE: Esperanto literature includes translated and
origional novels, short stories, plays, poems, scientific works
and dissertations. The library of the British Esperanto
Association contains over 30,000 items in Esperanto.
MAGAZINES: Various magazines and literary, scientific,
professional and religious reviews in Esperanto are published
regularly in all parts of the world.
RADIO: Over a dozen radio stations, including stations in Peking,
Rome, Rio de Janeiro, Valencia, Warsaw, and Zagreb regularly
broadcast in Esperanto, for a total of over fifteen hundred hours
a year.
CONVENTIONS AND CONFERENCES: Every year an increasing number of
conventions, conferences, courses and study groups use Esperanto
as their working language. Last year about 12,000 people
attended international meetings using Esperanto exclusively.
ESPERANTO ORGINAZITIONS: The Universala Esperanto Asocio
(Universal Esperanto Association) has members in over a hundred
countries; there are 44 affiliated national organizations; 22
professional international associations; a worker's association;
and more than 1250 clubs and societies in the world. Moreover,
3,500 delegates and speciality delegates in all countries are at
the service of Esperantists.
LEARN ESPERANTO! USE IT IN YOUR PROFESSIONAL WORK, IN YOUR
TRAVELS, IN YOUR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS!
Test your language ability:
Inteligenta persono lernas la lingvon Esperanto rapida kaj
facile. Esperanto estas la moderna, kultura lingvo por la tuta
mondo. Simpla, fleksebla, belsona, [i estas la praktika solvo de
la problemo de universala interkompreno. Esperanto meritas vian
seriozan konsideron. Lernu la internacian lingvon Esperanto.
Check your translation:
An intelligent person learns the language Esperanto rapidly and
easily. Esperanto is the modern, cultural language for the whole
world. Simple, flexible, musical, it is the practical solution
for the problem of universal mutual understanding. Esperanto
deserves your serious consideration. Learn the international
language Esperanto.
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ESPERANTO AT A GLANCE:
--The Alphabet (Brooks' IBM-PC standardized 27-character set)
A B C & D E F G [ H I J ] K L M N O P R S $ T U # V Z
a b c › d e f g h i j û k l m n o p r s $ t u – v z
Every letter has exactly one sound and is always pronounced.
Accent is always on the next-to-last syllable. All are
pronounces as in English except:
A as in "father" I as in "machine"
C as "ts" in "bits" J as "y" in "yes"
& as "ch" in "church" ] as "s" in "measure"
E as in "get" O as in "mote"
G as in "get" S as in "said"
[ as "j" in "jet" $ as "sh" in "shed"
H as in "hat" U as "oo" in "boot"
# as "w" in "water"
The parts of speech are formed by adding endings to root words.
O is the noun ending -- instruisto (teacher)
A is the adjective ending -- nova (new)
E is the adverb ending -- libere (freely)
I is the infinitive verb ending -- lerni (to learn)
J is added to form noun plurals -- instruistoj (teachers)
N is added to form noun direct object -- instruiston
Inteligentaj personoj lernas la internacian lingvon.
(Intelligent people learn the international language.)
Esperanto havas facilajn regulojn.
(Esperanto has easy rules.)
Note that the ending of an adjective always agrees with the
ending of the nown that it modifies.
Verb endings (the same regardless of number or gender.)
Infinitive Present Past Future Imperative Conditional
I AS IS OS U US
vidi vidas vidis vidos vidu vidus
to see sees saw will see see! would see
------------------------ Numbers ---------------------------
1 unu 5 kvin 9 na–
2 du 6 ses 10 dek
3 tri 7 sep 100 cent
4 kvar 8 ok 1000 mil
Examples 32 tridek du
278 ducent sepdek ok